We all know the story… Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a wacky Liberal and several other people were killed. Though Giffords is on the mend, the Republican Party in her Arizona district sent this out in a newsletter:

Get yourself a new Glock 23 .40 cal handgun for just 10 bucks — if your name is drawn.

Gun raffles are common in many parts of the U.S. (if you meet the legal requirements of firearm ownership and you win the gun it’s yours) but this really is in bad taste. Some people are trying to say it’s in worse taste to auction off a Glock because this is the brand of handgun Jared Lee Loughner used to commit his crimes.

Some Republicans are justifying the raffle by saying Giffords owns a gun herself (perhaps a Glock though this isn’t confirmed) and isn’t against gun ownership but, really, this is simply in bad taste.

I’ve been mulling this raffle over in my mind for the past few days and just can’t understand who thought this was a good idea. The Pima County GOP “interim chairman” said this regarding Rafflegate:

That Glock is no more responsible for those deaths and the congresswoman’s injuries than a Number 2 pencil is responsible for cheating on a test.

He’s correct, of course, but if your wife was eaten by a shark would you serve shark fin soup at the wake?

Faux pas.

What’s perhaps more interesting is that Giffords has an opponent in her re-election bid. His name is Jesse Kelly and Liberals are already going after him because how dare he challenge Gabby!

After Giffords was shot, Republicans were blamed for using targets to mark crucial districts ripe for changing hands. This old horse is made to walk again here. Of course, Democrats also used targets to mark Republican districts but, somehow, there weren’t reported.

I have a hard time believing that this was just an honest mistake. You know that the thought of this being correlated to Giffords’ shooting had to have occurred to them.Jack Camwell recently posted..Happy Labor Day!